Toaru Fantaji no Vortex
by Clocktower-Echos
Summary: "A Certain Fantasy Vortex" Ribasu Kazeno, or "Vortex" as he is known due to his ability of controlling wind to points where being considered a level 5 isn't too far off him. However, he doesn't want anything to do with being the strongest in his school and such. He just wants a normal life, but I think you can connect the dots to what his destiny entails for him. T for cursing. OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello! I'm back! And I've tried to rewrite the entire story. I've done some soul searching, some brainstorming and some writing and that sort of stuff. There are new characters this time and different events this time around but it won't be too foreign. As per usual, your advice and feedback is appreciated and thank you to the people who have read the original version, as horrible as that was :P

Enjoy

Chapter One

"Do you accept eternal damnation, boundless sin and a bottomless hell of which you shall gain. Never again to see the light of grace, the redemption of spirit and freedom of soul? To never be granted access the the paradise of Heaven?"

"Do you really think someone like me still believes in heaven? The right to end the world, for that is the sinful crown I am destined to obtain. I gladly accept this fate. For me, there is not nor were there any lines which separate Heaven and Hell"

Kazeno Yamato shot up out of the bottom bunk of two-person bunk-bed and promptly planted his face in the ground. His breath was heavy as anvils and his sweat was colder than ice, yet his dark brown hair was absorbing heat like a solar pannel and his smoke grey eyes darted around the pitch black room like a rabbit on drugs.

"What the hell was that?" He thought of what he said in his dream, "The right to end this all? Eternal damnation?"

Kazeno's head was a foggy as the moonlit horizon that hung over Academy City on that early day. Nothing fit into place for him as an endless wave of question slammed his sleepy brain. It honestly scared him a bit, not the whole 'bottomless hell and boundless sin' part; but the part where he said he 'accept that fate'.

He sat up on to his bunk and once again tried to rack his brain for answers. This time even less made sense until a voice in his head said, "_Still trying to forget the past?_"

"Shut up!" Kazeno nearly punched himself in the head before realizing that he would only succeed in a concussion for his efforts.

"Ehh?" Kazeno-senpai, what are you doing this early?" a soft voice came from the bunk above. A sleepy mess of black hair with dark blue highlights dropped down to accompany the soft voice.

"Oh, sorry Eko" Kazeno looked up to see the girl hanging precariously over the ledge of the bed. And then she went from "hanging on" to "falling over" in a mere 2.41 seconds, landing on Kazeno.

"Oww…" Kazeno opened his eyes and found Eko laying on top of him, he wondered what his next move should be.

His half-awake brain mustered out three choices, all of varying level of dissatisfaction when Kazeno reviewed them. The first was kiss Eko awake. The second was to try and sneak a peek at Eko's underwear. The third was to try and get-

"Senpai, where do you think you hand is?" Eko sleepy pointed to Kazeno's hand that was unconsciously groping her bust. Then she fully realized where his hand was and proceed to slap Kazeno until he was fully awake and in considerable pain. It didn't help that each of her slaps were granted an extra jolt of electricity due to Eko's esper ability, "Overrider".

"Oh?! Sorry senpai!" Eko slightly panicked as she tried to find something to revive her roommate.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Kazeno got up and rubbed the red hand-shaped marks on his face, "I've had half my body frozen by Isamu before, I can take this. Although, I wonder if this is what they call an 'unhealthy relationship?'" Kazeno chuckled.

Eko softly threw punches at Kazeno as he chuckled and got up and looked at the early morning. The clock told him it was about two hours prior to his normal time of getting up at seven. Pulling up a chair, he sat back and just stared at the hazy skyline of the city not yet awake. The number of cars and trucks on the road matched the number of lights on in the other highrises, few and far between not counting occasional pair of brightly-lit rooms. Kazeno personally enjoyed the view of District 4 during times like this, its just that he was never up early enough to enjoy it most days.

However, some of District 4's other spots weren't quite so pretty. The expansive district could be divided between two parts, those who have it good and those who don't. Kazeno was fortunate to live firmly in the middle of the good part of the area, where he didn't have to worry about being mugged at every corner. The other half he had only heard of in stories and saw in infrequent visits, as a lower-ranking member of Judgement, he was assigned to patrol that area and went there on things varying from assisting Anti-Skill in raids to giving out food for the less fortunate people there.

However, not all the the people there received them well obviously. Skill-Out had been building a sizable presence in the area plus many other strange-named gangs like "Red Scar" and "Eisenwald". Anti-Skill launched so many missions and raids against the gangs they might as well just declared war on that area and start a full-blown campaign and be done with it. Not that Kazneo didn't find the possibility of full-blown war against gangs to be an interesting prospect. Then again, the city would never allow that, even though there were so many gangs in that part, there was also a large number of normal, non-criminal residents who didn't have the luxury Kazeno had.

Eko tapped Kazeno on the shoulder as he was deep in his thoughts. He looked over and saw the girl hold out a Nepgear controller.

"Wanna play senpai~?" Eko smiled as the words "Gourmet Hunter 3" lit up the dark room from the TV screen.

"Might aswell, I'm too awake to go back to sleep." Kazeno turned around and picked up the controller before bringing over a pillow to sit on, "Maybe this time we can find that 'Century Stew' thing for that one quest."

"Okay Kayama-senpai!" Eko gave a cheeky grin, out of the many names that Kazeno managed to accumulate since he became the strongest level four esper in their school, Kayama was something only Eko was allowed to call him without getting her lungs forcibly emptied.

"Shhh. Its still pretty early." Kazeno bent over and put his index finger over Eko's tiny lips, "And don't call me Kayama. Okay?

"Shit!" Kazeno cursed as he shot up from the ground. The last thing he remembered was trying to beat a dungeon boss named "Brillfang the Kobold Lord" and getting to about half health. Now Eko was asleep on his arm and his alarm clock was yelling at him to get up since he was going to miss the monorail to school.

"Hmm? Vhat's going onn?" Eko's sleepiness shone through her slurred speech in the adorable way that only she could manage.

"We're going to be late!" Kazeno grabbed the girl and rushed her to the bathroom and handed her a bar of soap and a toothbrush before running off to the kitchen to make toast. Eko soon walked out more refreshed and (hopefully) swapped the bar of lavender vanilla soap with actual toothpaste. The fact her breath smelled a bit flowery however worried Kazeno as he got out their uniforms.

The Tokiowari High School boy's uniform consisted of a black vest over a white button up short-sleeved shirt paired with black dress pants and dress shoes. Girls had the same thing as the boys but wore black skirts instead of dress pants paired alongside a choice of stockings or loose socks. Ties were used to distinguished the grades: black was used for fourth-years, blue for third-years, Kazeno currently wore red since he was in his second year and Eko, who was a first-year, wore no tie.

By the time Kazeno was slipping on his vest, Eko was already putting the finishing her twintails. Part of Kazeno was amazed at the manual dexterity of the little girl but when he took her past into account, it wasn't all that surprising, especially in her former line of work.

"Hurry up senpai!" Eko was already was at the door, chewing her way through a piece of toast as Kazeno was stuffing papers and notebooks into his schoolbag. He slipped an old pocket watch with a cracked screen into his vest pocket, connecting the other end of the chain to a belt loop on his pants, "I'm coming."

The moment he walked out the door something just felt, _off_. He felt a sense of deja vu mixed with uneasiness and there was something pressing on the pit of his stomach. Perhaps he was just sensing the difference in air pressure to an overly sensitive amount, but it never made him feel this bad before. He stopped and held his hand over his heart, it was quickening for some reason and he couldn't say why.

"Sempai? You alright?" Eko spun around on her heels and saw Kazeno starting to bend over.

"Yah, I'm fine." Kazeno felt the strangeness and pain be lifted away suddenly, "Yeah, a lot better now." he began to run ahead of Eko, "Come on, we still have a train to catch."

He grabbed the younger girl's hand and began running with her in tow towards the elevator, he wondered if he should have told her about the things he said in his dream. He knew that weird dreams usually signalled some big, life-changing event. Oh well, Kazeno thought to himself, I'll just enjoy this moment for now.

"Anderson-sama, target is in movement, you're orders? Shall we start the plan now?"

"Nah, not today Honda-chan. Tomorrow would be more ideal given what our "friend" has willingly "shared" with us today. Besides, I still need to go through that arms deal with my old buddy from Skill-Out plus I'm due to a game of Russian Roulette. "

"So you're putting the plan off since you want to have fun first? That's so like you sir."

Of course I am, even Hades needs his breaks. Till then, ta ta. Just keep a watch on him, feel free to swap out with your new friend from Germany, Edelweiss I think her name was? No matter, you have your orders. "

"Roger, objectives updated, will follow." Honda hung up the call, "Now then, Kazeno Yamato, why is Anderson-sama so interested in the Vortex of Tokiowari, I wonder?"

Honda turned around, a small grin hung on her face as she amused herself with some humming, and, with a wind of sakura petals, all evidence of her existence was removed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Kazeno slammed the sliding oak door of Class 2-A open with roughly 1.58 seconds until he planted his face onto his desk. He was out of breath, the monorail was delayed due to some gruesome murder case where some poor unfortunate soul got strapped the monorail and runned over by a monorail car. He had a tingling sensation that he would have to bring that up with his captain the next time he would have to stop at his Judgement branch and get another box of papers to fill out over the matter. The sheer fact that there was a steady increase in crimes like this wasn't helping with the amount of Judgement work or publicity.

"I thought I Judgement was about going out and stopping criminals, not paperwork." Kazeno sighed as he raised his head to look at a flock of birds flying by. He had half a mind to jump out the wind and fly somewhere. Perhaps just cruise around and treat himself to an aerial tour of the city, if he ever managed to fly for a time longer than three minutes and fifty-one seconds.

As he searched for the meaning of life in his head, the hallway became a boy band concert, girls were squealing got progressively louder as Kazeno ignored it. He knew the thing that was causing the commotion was basically a one-man boy band. Isamu Ayase, the boy that every girl in the school wants to do and the guy that every boy wants to do in.

He came from a wealthy family with sharp looks to prove it. He dyed his hair a beige color that somehow made him look more refined and a common legend among the girls that staring into his ice blue eyes would grant you good luck in romantic endeavors.

Possibly the paragon of sociability and skill, the honor student that never got anything lower than first place on exams could play guitar, piano and almost an entire orchestra's worth of instruments besides the viola (he had a horrifying childhood experience with violas which he refuses to share the details with anyone). He was the star of the soccer team and called the "Prince of Tennis" due to his ability to compete on a national level. The Drama and Theatre club adored him for his award-winning acting, pleading him to be part of whatever production they were making at the time. He was also Kazeno's best friend.

"Good morning Kazeno." Isamu shooed away his fanclub as some of them fainted with a gentle "sigh".

"Hello Isamu." Kazeno himself sighed as some people from the Student Consul came over to break up the crowd, "Did you do Yoparri-sensei's homework?"

"You mean the history notes?" Isamu ran his hair before flipping it in the majestic way only he could manage, "Of course, it was easy."

_He's just as egotistic as ever_, Kazeno thought as Isamu's hair flipping attracted the squeal of several girls in the vicinity, "Then can you allow me to copy it? Please?" Kazeno clapped his hands together and prayed to his friend.

"You don't need to do that," Isamu opened his nicely organized bag and pulled out his notebook, "Here, use these."

Kazeno opened the abyssal void known as his school bag and brought out an abused notebook with various cringes all over it. He flipped through Isamu's incredibly neat writing that could easily win him calligraphy competitions and copied down answers on to his own sheet. He copied down everything to the best of his ability in his much sloppier handwriting as something suddenly sat down on his desk and greeted him.

"Mornin' Kazeno-kun!' said the person who sat down.

"Good morning Hitomi-chan, you're kind of sitting on my homework." Kazeno looked up at his other female friend Hitomi Goto who was sitting on Isamu's notebook.

If Isamu could be compared to the guy every girl wants, then Hitomi was nearly the same. Amongst the boys in the school, she was known as one of the "Seven Wonders of the School", referring to a secret voting held every two week on which girls was the most attractive. The top seven were commonly known as the "Seven Wonders of the World" for good reason.

Hitomi herself was currently the "Lighthouse of Alexandria". A literal fountain of charm and manipulation, she know exactly how to get inside of you with her green eyes, see through nearly every psychological trick created. However, trying to get inside of her head was a task Sherlock Holmes would have trouble with, her long black hair might as well been a mind shield and everyone would believe it. She singelhadnly put shame to the best mind-reading esper in the school who was shocked he was beaten by a level zero. She was also famous for flirting with anything that showed signs of movements at times.

"Can I ask a question Kazeno-kun?" Hitomi played with the boy's hair with two fingers, "Did you have a rough night last night? You're hair is an absolute mess."

"Yes, I had a very rough night, now, can you get off-" Kazeno slapped his face against his forehead as he suddenly realized what he just said and what could it implied.

"Oooohhh... So you defiled Eko-chi to your heart content? Or maybe… she tied you up and had her way. I didn't know you were into that Kazeno-kun~" Hitomi vividly imagine each word she spoke.

"You're wrong. I just had a bad dream." Kazeno hit Hitomi on the head with a pen in his desk, "And no, it wasn't anything weird."

Hitomi made one last remark about being a "healthy teenage boy" before dashing off to her own desk. Isamu consoled a sighing Kazeno who went back to copying notes from Isamu's crumpled notebook. At times like this, Kazeno wondered why he bothered to hang around Hitomi and subsequently Isamu. It just got him angry glares and death threats than anything thanks to both Isamu's fan club and the idiots who treat the "Seven Wonders of Tokiowari" like goddess. He put his head down, he had already gotten used to the piercing gaze and the shower of death threats and random crap in his shoe box, but it didn't bother him. He got into the habit of checking his shoes and his desk for tacks automatically and had no qualms about throwing said tacks at whoever was snickering the closest to him.

Kazeno finished copying the last of Isamu's work as the teacher came in. He shoved his notebook back into the void of his bag and handed Isamu back his own notebook as the stench of Yopparai-sensei alcohol drifted into the room. Today it was a combination of Jill Daniel's Double Black Label Whiskey and greasy pork. Sensei must have gone American for a lastnight, Kazeno thought to himself as he inhaled the scent of sweet corn and charred wood, at least it smelled better than the time Yoparri-sensei brought in some weird, off-brand liquor. Kazeno vividly remembered how the container smelled of papaya gin mixed with lemon-scented dishwashing soap, combined with jet fuel that must have been mislabeled as ale.

Yoppaari-sensei hobbled to the front of the room and dug in his greasy black hair for a pencil before flipping out the attendance sheet and called names, "Sakamoto-kun."

"Here!"

"Himeji-chan."

"Here!"

"Hideyoshi-kun, err… chan, I mean…. fuck it." Yopparai tossed the book aside, "Everyone is present, no? I count 35.6 of you guys so-"

"Sensei, we only have 24 people in out clas-"

"Shut it class rep before I shove 20mm into your ass." Yopparai shot back with a drunkard's reflexes, "Anyways, I'm here to get paid, not to be your teacher. There's a bottle of Rednext on the market that I have my eye on…

"Yopparai-sensei…" the class rep pointed at the figure who was waiting outside the door.

"Oh yea, um… we have a new transfer students, two siblings in fact. You two can come on in."

The door slid open and revealed a handsome boy in a well trimmed suit with a little white-haired girl carrying a giant container on her back who had apparently forgone the girl's uniform for a black and white lolita dress. The boy had a level of handsomeness shared by Isamu as proven by a number of gleeful expressions from the girls in the room. A good number of both boys and girls also made remarks at the adorable loli next to the boy.

The boy walked to the chalkboard followed by the girl, who seemed to be in a daze, and began to write his name. The girl attempted the same only for the boy to whisper something in her ear, dodging the giant container and writing it out for her.

"Hello, my name is Shouta Anderson. Please just call me Anderson, no need to get close yet." Anderson gave a slick smile that wooed the girls and cause Isamu's expression to change to something between "bitter" and "suspicion".

"Name," the girl seemed to have trouble stringing together words and restarted her sentence, "I called-"

"Her name is Edelweiss Richthofen Bodewig, she prefers to go by 'Weiss'. And yes, we are siblings." Anderson cut his "sister" off.

"Wait, if you two are related, why are you're last names so different? Where are you guys from anyways?" someone poked their head up and asked.

"Our mother got around a lot." Anderson said without hesitation as Weiss nodded, "I'm from Las Vegas and have lived their for a good part of my life. My mother was Japanese and my father was American. My sister was born in Germany and and had a German father. She also has quite the affection for mechs."

Following that, half the class stood up and stormed Anderson and Weiss with questions like "What is with the giant box" and "Why aren't you wearing your uniforms?". The boy cleared his throat which silenced the entire room before opening his mouth, "That's classified."

The entire room gained as Anderson simply winked. He walked down the fourth row all the way to the back and lifted the chin of the girl who sat there and whispered, "My dear princess, what beautifully shining eye you have, shame they are back here where no one can see them."

The girl immediately got up and moved her belongs to a seat in the front of the room. Kazeno wondered if Isamu and this new Anderson guy would start a playboy war or fan clubs would turn the school into a war zone. With the unsettling air that he had around him, Kazeno made a mental note not to trust this guy. His position was compounded when Anderson slipped him a note that read, "Meet me on to roof at lunch. I know your past, _Hayabusa-_san"

Kazeno's eyes narrowed, _how does he know?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

The day jumped up to the top of the sky where the Japanese history teacher, Nobuna-sensei, was straightening out papers before she walked out. Other students were already shuffling tables and chairs around as they formed into their daily tight knit groups to share their lunches. Kazeno clutched his plastic bento case with a sweating palm, Anderson had gone to the bathroom before the bell rang, seeing has he still hadn't returned, Kazeno guessed he was already on the roof.

He waited a few more ticks from the clock before putting his bento back into its plastic bag and opened the window. In theory, it should be impossible for students to get on to the roof as the door was kept under lock and key. Shame the school didn't put in anti-aircraft guns to stop Kazeno from just flying up there. He held to the edge of the window before jumping off, getting a lift from an updraft he summoned up.

"Ahh… so you did come." Anderson cocked his head around to see Kazeno, "Yoppari-sensei's history lessons are fun! 1842, Watson discovered Neptune and fought the native whales for dominance so he could claim ancient alien technology to create the first Brazilian Opera was it?"

Kazeno kept his lips shut as Anderson when on about Yoppari-sensei "world history". Nobody really knew what the hell Yoppari-sensei actually taught since actual world history was left to the fiery, gold-haired Nobuna-sensei. Most guessed that the was there for the expressed purpose of confusing them on tests.

"Tell me this, what is your relationship with a girl named 'Yuzu Eko'." Anderson suddenly changed topics.

"What does it have to do with anything?" Kazeno sat down and opened his lunch box.

"That's a nice bento you've got there." Anderson suddenly appeared behind Kazeno as he opened his mouth, "Sssssshame if anything were to happen to it~"

The wind that was blowing off of Anderson was nothing less than fishy, suspicious, mysterious with a dash of mental instability. Kazeno opened his bento and stuffed half a hard boiled egg into his mouth, "You're not getting any." Most other times Kazeno would offer people to taste his cooking, but Anderson would probably manage to poison the rest of his food if he tasted the egg.

"That's a shame, oh well, I'll just have to go get my own bento." Anderson clapped his hands.

Within seconds, Edelweiss appeared from behind and AC unit and dragged out a large bag and appeared to be struggling with it. Judging by the fact she was also carrying around her giant container with ease earlier, Kazeno was doubtful she actually had a hard time with a bag that was miniscule in comparison and was just doing it to look cute.

Anderson walked over and picked up the bag as the girl climbed on to his back and received a free piggyback ride for her efforts. Kazeno made another note in his mind noting that Anderson likely had a lot more muscle than his frame would otherwise suggested. After unloading both the bag and the girl, he opened up the bag, then the box in the bag and Kazeno marveled what it contained.

He had seen multi-layered bentos before, he made them on Eko's birthday for her, but they were often simplistic in nature. Rice with furikake, some simple sushi and stuff like that. Kazeno wasn't like Isamu who could pull a fabulous party dish from nowhere, and to be honest he was grateful for that as Isamu couldn't make anything but party platters. The bento box that was half the size of Edelweiss would probably be enough to make Isamu's fancy cooking jealous.

"Blue lobster, jamón ibérico, kobe beef, fresh mountain vegetables; the list goes on." Anderson carefully took off each layer, unveiling more expensive foods with equally expensive ingredients with each box. "But you're not getting any." Anderson mocked him.

Kazeno's throat made an angry growling sound as he went back to stuffing his face with his own cooking, "Are you two going to eat all seven boxes of that?"

"Not, I have my own little entourage coming who will share. But first there is something I must tell you, the reason reason why I've called you here and which your friends will be undoubtedly listening to."

Anderson snapped his fingers and Edelweiss got up and walked over the entrance of the roof. She looked at the door as if she was trying to intimidate it (her small size wasn't helping however). Kazeno took a bite of rice as he watched the girl as she shot her leg out at a perfect ninety degree angle right into the middle of the metal. Kazeno choked on his rice as he saw the very noticeable dent in the metal before it fell down, revealing an equally noticeable shell-shocked pair of Isamu and Hitomi with their jaws hitting the ground harder than a oil well.

"You can tell the girl behind you that she can come up too." Anderson helped himself to a bit a bowl of ramen from Fujimaki Gekijyo*, "There no point in trying to be sneaky around me."

"Tsk, Eko, you can come up now." Kazeno wondered how anyone could spot Eko while she was hidden. Even with his own sensing abilities, trying to find the cute bundle of stealthiness could be a nightmare.

A pair of small hands appeared on the ledge as Eko shot herself into the air. After a flip, she landed legs crossed next to Kazeno and stole his chopsticks to quickly help herself to a sausage. Despite having a serious expression, Kazeno felt her aura still at "absolutely adorable", the fact she stole the only sausage from his bento was a different matter however.

"Is that everyone?" Anderson watched as his own female acquaintance half dragged, half lead Isamu and Hitomi next to Kazeno, "Nobody else?"

"That's all the friends I think I have, the importance anyways." Kazeno took back his chopsticks from Eko as Hitomi and Isamu began to thaw.

Anderson mumbled something about an "Ichiro" as a few figures appeared behind them and, to Kazeno's subconscious frustration, all girls.

The group was definitely eccentric at heart, discounting the fact they just suddenly appeared from behind Anderson. The tallest one was of the most Japanese descent, wearing red dress that split wide open in the middle with a white robe-like shirt that pair well with her black silk hair. Kazeno thought if the shrine maiden outfit was to ever modernize, what ever that girl was wearing would probably be what it would look like.

The girl next to her was mostly likely a western, short puff of blonde hair and blue eyes, she practically fit Kazeno's definition of western girl down to a tee. It was A pair of blue jeans and a brown leather vest over a light blue shirt that showed her midriff. Possibly to due size of her bust which Kazeno's eyes were actively inspecting.

"Hayabusa-kun," Kazeno and all of his friends snapped their heads to Anderson, "There is something I must tell you, of which you may believe me and one of two things will happen. One is I will tell you and you will be thoroughly surprised and will attempt to do harm on me. Which I do not recommend as you will most likely die in your sleep, your friend Isamu would no longer have a family business to look over and Eko and Hitomi might find themselves in unfavorable situations."

"How the hell do you know my name?" Isamu completely dropped his pretty-boy act, "I have yet to say anything, nor has Hitomi-chan and yet you already know my names."

"Hold your horses young one, I'm getting there." Anderson handed the Japanes girl to his left a container from his incredible bento, "The second option is for you to hear me out so I can help you while you help me. I personally suggest you go for the second option."

Kazeno held his breath in. He was trying to think clearly, but all the voices in his head that had awaken with the name "Hayabusa" clouded his thoughts. He cleared his throat and accepted Anderson's second offer.

Anderson smiled as he the girl in the modern shrine maiden robes forcibly fed him some vegetable as if she was his mother. "Then I will say it out loud. You are a part of Judgement, I the current head of the Coercion. In theory we should be shooting each other. Nice to meet you." Anderson held out his hand and in it was a business card.

"Tobiichi Heavy Industries and Information Systems?" Kazeno read the card out loud before leaning over to Isamu and whispered, "Do you know anything about them? I've never heard of them in any of the files."

Isamu's face once again turned bitter, "Only shreds of truth in a stack of wild speculation. I hear that most people will never hear about them even if they are involved with them unknowingly."

"Than what's with this Tobiichi Industry thing?" Kazeno glanced over at Anderson who assumed the position of having one leg over the other and his head resting on arched arms, his uneasiness only grew if not even Isamu knew about them.

"My guess is that is a fake company using the guise of a real company that has died out. If I remember correctly, the real Tobiichi Corporation had hit hard times after a series of flying armored suits nearly killed an operator."

"Well, what do they do exactly?"

"It literally says on the card. Heavy industrial and information dealing. From what I hear, Coercion has a network of thousands of informant, spies and corrupted officials on their side to get information and sell it to anyone who is willing to pay for it. Its like the Illuminati almost."

Anderson was still leaned back in his smug position. Kazeno's first instinct was to jump up and beat the crap of Anderson if he really was the ringleader of Coercion, but something didn't line up. From all the little psychological tricks that he had either seen or heard of from Hitomi, blantaly telling your enemies your position against theirs was unheard of to him. Anderson had absolutely no benefit of telling him his position.

"Come to the place marked on the card if you're interest Mr. Protector of Justice. Speaking about justice, you're being called for by Yarimoto-san." Anderson calmly picked up a bit of blue lobster.

Kazeno was about to make a come back when his phone came to life, it was his superior at Judgement, Kenshi Yarimoto, "Yamato! Boots on the ground, now! Damn Samurai-Man is trying to blow up the vehicle depot!. A helicopter is on its way to pick you and Hitomi up."

Kazeno cursed as he closed his bento and stuffed it into one of his bigger pockets. He stared at Anderson who stared back with the rest of his harem. Each one of them with varying levels of smugness, "You're being called upon Hayabusa-san, don't disappoint Moichido-san or Kenshi-kun."

Again Kazeno questioned how did Anderson know who Yarimoto meant by "Samurai-Man" and how the hell he even knew it was Yarimoto calling him. He made an angry noise with his throat as the helicopter arrived. He and Hitomi immediately jumped on, Isamu and Eko stayed on the roof, wishing them good luck

As the pilot started to lift away, Kazeno took one last look at the rooftop. Nobody was there anymore but Isamu and Eko. Anderson and the others had instantly disappeared, leaving under his friend's noses, not leaving a trace of their existence.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four : His Butler, Combat Ready

**A/N: Welcome once again to Vortex, where you get to see my (occasional) half-assed writing!**

**On a different not, this will probably be the last update on a regular time as me and Editor-chan's lives are getting increasingly busy. Also being plain lazy probably as some effect on my ability to write regulatory.**

**Anyways, on to the story!**

**All works mentioned or referenced belong to their respective owners **

**Just in case you haven't figured it out, Sebi is a Sebastian Expy **

The glimmer of silverware directed itself at Moichido's hand and a well-placed fork lodged itself in his gun's trigger mechanism. A shower of several more well-polished knives and forks sent his mooks running for cover. In the midst of the confusion, Sebi landed with a form that would make Olympic Gold medalists jealous. She threw three forks into the speakers that were incapacitating Kazeno before running to his side, "Are you okay master?"

"You bitch!" Moichido yelled as his precious anti-esper weapon was now spitting out sparks, he picked up his nagimaki once again and promoted his men to attack, "Now you die."

"Master, your orders?" Sebi looked at Kazeno who was still suffering a pounding headache.

"Sebi-chan, I _order_ to take out those goons." Kazeno's headache was slowly dissipating, but not fast enough.

Sebi got down on one knee and bowed, "Yes, my master."

She reached into the inside of her coat and pulled out two automatic pistols. She rushed for the first set of mooks, the first two fell from a storm of bullets. As one of them fell to the floor, Sebi rolled over his hunched back and delivered an ax kick to the pistol-wielding mook in front of her. With incredible grace and agility, she climbed on to the same person's head and did a handstand with the person between her legs and threw the goon into another one, knocking both of the out.

Sebi performed a series of flips and landed on Moichido's back before using it as a springboard to launch herself in the air. As she flew through the air, she reloaded, aiming her guns so that their magazines would hit two more as she released them before slipping in new magazines. As she her light feet landed on the ground, the two goons were quickly falling to the ground. Just not quick enough. Sebi dashed forward and grabbed their head and slammed them together before swing both of the poor souls in a full circle and giving them a romantic kiss with the ground. Depending on your definition of "romantic".

She stood up and wiped her brow; _She actually managed to break a sweat this time_, Kazeno noted as he got up. "Look Moichido, why do you keeping fighting a war you can't win?"

"I-Imposible!" Mochido couldn't accept the fact that all of his men laid wounded, or worse, on the ground, "H-how d-d-does one crossdressing butler girl…"

"I am just one _hell_ of a butler." Sebi straightened her jacket and pants and smiled.

There was a moment silence as the wind gently howled and only the rustle of cans and leaves accompanied it.

"Heh… heh heh… heh…" Moichido started to laugh maniacally.

"You okay?" Kazeno questioned as Mochido steadily laughed louder and louder.

"I'm just fine. I have just realized that you are right."

"What do you mean?"

"This." Moichido opened the manhole next to him and drew a machine gun, "Sometimes, to destroy monsters, we must become them."

"That made no sens-" Sebi cut him off to push him behind a dumpster before diving next to him herself, "Thanks Sebi-chan."

"Any butler worth her salt can her master." She rubbed a little bruise on Kazeno's forehead, "I will have to treat you later."

"That won't be necessary." Kazeno chuckled, knowing what would happen if he did allow her to do as she please. It would probably entail her changing into a nurse uniform, giving him a "full body checkup" and by some coincidence that happens to almost everyone in that situation, Eko would walk in and misinterpret the situation.

"So what now?" Sebi lowered her head as a bullet trimmed the top of her hair.

"I'll just blow him away." Kazeno grinned and stood up.

He summoned an updraft to prevent any bullets hitting him as he shot the dumpster at Moichido. Moichido use his own ability to give his machine gun's barrel enough force to slam the the trash-filled metal container into the ground and spill all of its contents. And just as planned, Kazeno once again drew his Shock Lance pushed himself forward with another gust of air, he jumped up from the trash cloud and metal Moichido's nagimaki. His machine gun's barrel was apparently the only thing that wasn't damaged after hitting a dumpster and was now laying on the ground.

"Sebi-chan! Boost!" Kazeno yelled as Moichido started to get up.

"Roger!" Sebi held her silver plate, above her head no longer bearing the dents and facial marks from the previous day. Kazeno air jumped on to the top of it and with a boost from Sebi, shot himself straight into the air. Moichido's face looked the same of a prey confronting a predator as he watched Kazeno starting to horizontally roll and his deck of cards scattered. He had seen this move done to many of his comrades and even several buildings and vehicles, he out of all people should know what it was after confronting Kazeno so many times. It was Kazeno's signature move and namesake, _Vortex_.

The cards began to swirl around Kazeno as if he was the center of a tornado that was spinning on its side. All of the wind that didn't come from Kazeno mysteriously ceased moving and his fist went behind him as if he was aiming a strong uppercut to an invisible enemy. The card all focused around his clenched fist and the wind gust were getting stronger by the milliseconds.

"I'm going to blow you illusion away!" Kazeno yelled as he sent what was now an air bomb with really sharp cards in it at Moichido.

"Master," Sebi raised her silver platter as it caught a card, "You're going to need a more original catchphrase."

Once again, there was an unnatural dead silence as Kazeno dropped back down to the ground and the wind once again started to blow displaced cans across a newly formed crater. Kazeno made sure not to aim directly at Moichido, his death wouldn't be his punishment; having to live knowing that the only reason he was alive was because Kazeno aimed it next to him so he would get the aftereffect but not the impact. Moichido himself was shot across the alley and landed in a pile of discarded boxes.

"I can't win… I never could win. But this time... I win." Moichido awakened and weakly reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box. And said box came equipped with red button that Kazeno only just noticed.

"Shit!" he cursed into his earpiece, "Everyone get off the street! It going to blow!"

Moichido must have found some way into the gas pipes. Blowing them up was an old move but effective none the less. Kazeno personally wondered if Moichido even told his own men about his plan to blow up the gas pipes, maybe that was his intention from the start. As someone asked to reconfirm what he said, the street erupted in flames. Whatever doubts the person on the other side of the radio must have been completely erased. Kazeno raised his arms to try and shield his face as a full blast of flame erupted in front of him. Through the fiery debris, he saw the body of Moichido, laying unconscious from the initial blast.

One part of Kazeno wanted to see his long time enemy to be consumed by the fire, after all, his existence would only lead to more violent encounters and more people getting injured. The other part want to save him, give his foe another chance at life. Kazeno always thought that humans need bad people so they know what good people are like. Going against whatever common sense he had, he told Sebi to go check to see if anyone else was wounded as he turned around.

Moichido still hadn't moved and the flames were getting ever closer to him. Kazeno sighed, he was going to get a scolding from Captain Yarimoto probably, but he force a downward current to try and suppress the air. Probally not the best idea or most effective, but it limited the amount of flaming oil that would go everywhere while giving Kazeno enough time to use something else he carried, a deployable parachute.

He walked over to the unconscious body bringing out a metal disk with four square offshoots to hold on to object. He suddenly had the thought of once again killing Moichido, nobody would be able to attest that he killed someone and the flames would make a good way of covering it. All he would have to say is that the flame got too big for him and he had to leave.

"You don't know anything about respect or honor!" Moichido's voice boomed in his head.

"Says who?" Kazeno muttered as he wiped his remaining doubts from his mind and slapped the deployable parachute on to Moichido's back.

The disk beeped before recognizing it was on a human body and shot out ropes to secure the torso, the legs and the arms before sending out its syn-thread chute into the air. Kazeno sent an updraft to sent the device into the air, carrying a limp body with it. Kazeno watched as it just stayed there as he fastened metal rings around his shoulders and slapped a deployable parachute on himself and causing another up draft.

The whole alley was in flames as Kazeno looked down from the sky, guiding Moichido's parachute so he wouldn't be impaled by a chimney or something. Fire crews and ambulances were already on the scene, even more of them came down the roads like ants marching to their nest. _This is what happens when you give power to people who don't know how to use them, huh?_ Kazeno thought to himself.

He remembered the first time he had saw Moichido's profile on the Judgement database. Moichido apparently had changed completely after getting his powers and quickly leveling up. And after some misinterpreted history books and questionable friends, Moichido was embroiled in the idea that he was to end the tyranny all the people with powers had forced on to the level zeros.

The first time he actually fought Moichido, he was utterly disgusted at what he could do. He had hung around a dozen level 3's and 4's upside down on the balcony of a ten story building and ranting about tyranny and injustice. Somewhere in the fight, he had cut four of the ropes and only one of those four would ever be able to get up again. Kazeno remember the guilt and the vortex of emotions the night after, wishing he could have saved those people and that there has to be people like Captain Yarimoto and his other Judgement higher ups.

It was after his fifth fight against the heavy handed radical that Kazeno wasn't surprised by what Moichido could and would do. It was also around that time that Kazeno realized that Moichido and Yarimoto were two sides of the same coin, and the importance of the one was the result of another. Yarimoto stood as a role model of what a hero looked like for Kazeno when he was still a greenhorn and Moichido was the personification of a jock criminal a criminal intent. He had realized humans need evil to understand the value of good.

Kazeno snapped back to reality by Eko waving her hand and calling her name. He quickly punctured his chute with a card and did the same to Moichido's chute. After a softened landing, a group of Judgement members and Anti-Skill officers carted him to an ambulance next to a line of their own wounded. Kazeno didn't know who he should worry about more, the injured on the ground who were taking sips of waters from paper cups with the help of nurses, or, for some reason, Moichido. He racked his brain for a reasonable answer to why he was concerned with his greatest foe with nothing to show for it.

"Senpai~" Eko almost threw Kazeno off balance as she landed into his open arms.

"Glad you're okay too Eko." Kazeno rubbed the top of Eko's head, "Shame our date had to be interpreted like this, again."

"Don't worry, we can always have another one sometime, but I can only have one of you sempai."

"Ahh…. Why you acting all lovey-dovey now? you definitely weren't like this a few chapters ago. Not that I'm complaining too much."

Kazeno looked up at the sun setting, it was like a gently burning orange in the sky. And for the first time in a while, he felt completely at peace. And yet something kept tugging on him, something else was waiting for him in the future. Kazeno ignored the thoughts, at any rate he should have been safe for a little bit. If only a _little bit._

**Thank you all for reading this, I do try at writing and hopefully its not to horrible.**

**I don't have much more to say, so see all of you guys and girls on the next chapter.**

**Don't forget favorite, reveiw, tell your friends, etc.**

**Peace out, aru.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kazeno scrambled his mind as he tried searching for an answer to all of this and a solution to the problem at hand. They were stuck fighting against what was practically a zombie of a former comrade who seem to not take any damage from the bloodied stone Miki was pounding into his skull and radios were still down. At the very least, it wasn't too horrible, Kazeno had heard and been in situations much more dire than the one he was currently in.

"No need to worry yet," Kazeno assured himself, "Just keep calm and everything will be manageable."

As Kazeno was taking deep breathes, he heard a scream. Ichiro opened a door only to find more of those ghastly black ghost creatures staring at him with bloody red eyes. _You. Are Shitting me, why does why do more of these things appear at the last damn second, every time._ Kazeno thought to himself as he got up.

He Vortex punched one of them, hitting it with the force of a speeding public bus. Despite its leg twisting in a way no human could ever think of, it got back up and marched on forward. Everyone brought out their guns and started to fire them off. He cursed as he threw a hand of cards into the group. He only produced angry groans and hollow echoes as his usually deadly poker cards failed to have any effect.

"That isn't very effective kid." the teacher yelled as he shot out burst of bullets.

"For the love of god please shut up sensei!" Kazeno Vortex punched another monstrosity for it to fly head first into a dumpster.

With each passing second, the being forced Kazeno's team back until they were going up against a wall. Out of options, Kazeno took it upon himself to airlift the group out to the truck. "And what if you don't make in time?" Ichiro argued.

"I will." he grabbed on to Ichiro's and Miki's armor, the latter seemed to be overjoyed to the point she forget they were still being attacked.

A boost from a trash can provide Kazeno with enough height so he could air jump over all of the shadowy beings. Off a wall, over the horde and a spin for style, he landed on the hood of the truck. He chucked both of them into bed of the truck which they continued their stand. He made his way back and grabbed the teacher and and another person.

"Don't save me," the teacher barked at him, "How can you save everyone if you focus on one person?"

Kazeno had no idea what the man was babbling about but before he realized it, he was holding someone else instead of the teacher. He forced Kazeno to take the remaining two Judgement members instead of himself.

"Just get on my back you old fool!" Kazeno wasn't leaving going to leave some behind to the waves of creatures who were less than 5 feet in front of them despite their slowness.

"I refuse." the teacher didn't stop shooting.

"I am refusing your refusal!"

"If I have to die to save you young ones, then I'll gladly accept this fate!"

Kazeno's mind clicked as he remembered what he apparently said in his dream. For that instance, whether by choice or unconscious decision, he took off, leaving the teacher to his fate. It would be the first time he would leave someone to die. "That boy will do great things one day." Kazeno heard the teachers last words as the creatures descended upon him.

He landed hard on the bed of the truck and didn't say anything when Ichiro asked where the teacher was. Kazeno pushed him aside and jumped into the driver seat and floored the pedal, not looking back. However the truck decide to stay put, Kazeno stamped the petal again, no reaction, another try, same result. Now frantically kicking the petal, he wondered why the hell it wasn't working.

"Cover me!" Kazeno got out and opened up the hood. Something disconnected through the engine block's mess of tubes.

As he plugged metal tubes and wires into various parts of the engine, the unsettling presence behind him got bigger. Kazeno closed his eyes and reassured himself it was just one of those things that got past Ichiro and the others. The sound of them continuing to fire however was giving him some very mixed messages. He slide his hand down to his pocket and grabbed three cards with sweaty palms.

He spun around on his heels and threw his cards at the black figure. Or, more correctly, a black leg. Kazeno heard a low growl and looked up, the veteran's eyes widened in fear. In front of him stood a black shadowy figure at least twice as tall as him, wearing very distinct Roman Centurion armor. Its ghostly outline was dark as night even in daylight, only three white small marks on its legs that were once Kazeno's cards provided the only color difference from the shades of black and angry red eyes.

"Guys! Look ou-" Kazeno felt a heavy blow to the chest as he tried to warn everyone else, but with a blink of an eye was in the air. Like a ragdoll, he was casted into the wall effortlessly. Had it not been for his ability, he would have had the wind knocked out of him.

A black fist was raised to beat the life out of Kazeno, but somewhere his cockiness came to him. "Try me bitch" Kazeno grinned defiantly with his bleeding lip. The giant respond with a bash of his fist, prompting him to cough up a mouth of blood.

He could hear Miki's and Ichiro's voices as the giant swung once again. Kazeno could only hope that they would be safe. The giant one again swung, it hurt like hell for Kazeno, but it wasn't anything that he hadn't felt before. In fact, he had felt much worse before. Once more, the shadowy fist was raised like a guillotine as Kazeno's adrenaline faded like smoke in front of a fan. He braced for impact as he saw one of the Judgement members get swept off his feet and into the horde. _This was never going to end well was it?_ Kazeno thought to himself. _Heh, we were doomed from the start weren't we?_

The giant fist swung down as Kazeno had one last thought, _Eko._

7 years ago

"Hey, why are you cryinging?" Kazeno asked with a boyish innocence to the girl who was crying at his feet in a bloodied rag, "Its not good for cute girls like you to cry you know."

"And why aren't you crying?", the little girl, just a little younger than he was, turned away kept sobbing.

"What do you mean?" Kazeno questioned. The broken doll pointed at the knife in Kazeno's hand. It was just another western-styled kitchen knife covered in blood, but not Kazeno's nor the black haired girl's. Kazeno looked at it and asked, "What of it? You have a bigger knife than I do."

The girl stopped her sobbing and stood up, facing Kazeno, she drew out her own blade; a beautiful crafted sword that looked like the love child of a machete and a katana, "Do you know what the value of life is?"

_Tell me what is the value of this cursed life of mine_, Kazeno mused to himself as the fist slammed into his weakened body. He tried use make use of his ability, only to find out the pain was numbing this thoughts too much for anything worthwhile to come forth. As he felt his body be lifted into the air, hopeless streams of air brushed the shadowy centurion. Five large fingers surrounded his head, Kazeno knew he wasn't going to last long as the screams of Miki told him the others were forsaken too. _Tell me what is the value of this cursed life of mine, Eko._

He closed his eyes, still trying to hit the thing with hopelessly weak wind currents that might make a ceiling fan jealous. _Sorry friends, I depart first, I await your return._

"Lunasis413, The twilight awaits!."

"Soric505, Know thy name upon the dead!"

Kazeno wondered if he was going insane and hearing voices in his final moments, however, feeling the wind as he dropped to the ground caused him to realize that he wasn't going insane. There was actually people who said those strange lines and said persons just cleaved through the giant being in one slice.

Through his one not-bloodied eye, he saw two figures dance through the horde like thread in the hands of a skilled weaver. Their form and timing was impeccable, nether got in the other's way while still relying on each other to cover the other's back. Nothing but flashes, bright lights, words Kazeno never heard before and a choir of dying shadows. Within seconds, the horde of was dispatched of by the two as they walked over to Kazeno. Kazeno raised his head to see one man and one woman, "T-thank you…"

"You have seen nothing today. Everything that has happened tod-" The man said.

Before Kazeno heard anything else, he felt a strong kick, stronger than that of the grip of the giant black centurion, in his stomach and blacked out. Only this time, there was no thoughts that followed his descent to darkness.


End file.
